The reason why the League of Nations was idealistic was because Britain and France would be forced to accept Germany’s induction. Britain and France would be the last countries to come to Germany’s aid after the war and now Wilson was asking them, in a way, to simply forgive and forget. Actions such as these have caused historians to debate whether the TOV was killed because Wilson was a man too ahead of his time, and his Fourteen Points were to idealistic for the other World Powers to accept, or it was Wilson himself that prevented the Treaty from being truly effective in preventing future wars because of his unwillingness to yield to even a single compromise. Wilson was indeed a visionary idealist, made evident by his assumption that nations had the ability to simply get along after the war. He saw the best in men, mostly due to his inexperience with foreign affairs and the fact that he was a progressive.
This meant that the government had back up from the army if anything were to up rise. But this came at a cost, Ebert promised to stop the spread of revolutionary socialism (which the army hated) and too preserve the authority of the current army officers, this basically meant the army were controlling Ebert. This was a significant change that could have led to a revolution because Ebert would NOT have been able to hold onto power without the support of the army. Ebert hoped to maintain Stability throughout Germany by introducing an Act called ‘Stinner-Leigien Act’ which represented real progress and reform. Both Ebert and the Army simply wanted to ensure that there would be no Left Wing Revolution.
The British also realised that at some point in the future the Germans would want to modify the Treaty or renounce it altogether. They believed this could lead to another European War. The British felt that they had to avoid war, particularly with Germany, at all costs. The best way to do this seemed to be through the policy of appeasement - remedying German grievances before they themselves tried to remedy them by force - which could lead to another European war. Thus, the policy of appeasement could be thought to have worked effectively if Germany’s efforts to rectify the Treaty of Versailles did not lead to the use of force.
Firstly, the European powers avoided war up until 1914 because the Alliance System wasn’t as well developed until then. Many historians, such as Sidney Bradshaw Fay, who was writing in the late 1920s, blame the Alliance System as evidence of “shared responsibility” for the outbreak of war. However, this view doesn’t take into account that Germany was the nation largely responsible for the creation of this system. Given that the Triple Entente had existed since 1907, and the Triple Alliance even before that, then war should have broken out, if Fay’s view is to be accepted. What was not present pre-1914 which, during the July Crisis, led to war was the closeness between nations and build up of tensions that meant that the powers would follow each other into war.
During the Paris Peace conference of 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was created as a peace treaty to end WW1 and prevent future conflict with Germany. From the beginning the Big Three had different opinions as to how Germany should be treated. It can be argued that the treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany and therefore caused embitterment within Germany, which ultimately lead to the public supporting Hitler who through propaganda convinced the public that he would undo the terms of the treaty. After the horrors of World War 1, the people of Europe wanted to retain peace in Europe. The big three at the Paris Peace Conference; Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson, had different opinions as to how Germany should be treated and how peace would be returned to Europe.
At the time it was endlessly debated as to whether going to war with the British was the right thing to do, but it was eventually decided that it was necessary in order to gain our independence. The lives lost were clearly a negative, but they were not lost in vain as they contributed to a higher purpose. Our country continued to deal with war, not only with other states but also within its borders. After experiencing the agony of several wars, the majority of Americans were resolute in their indifference to waging or aiding conflict abroad or otherwise. From there our government developed a policy of isolationism (for the most part) until after our involvement in World Wars I and II.
As President, Wilson had campaigned against corruption in politics and business. He concentrated on keeping the USA out of the war. Once the USA had joined the war, he drew up his Fourteen Point Plan as the basis for ending the war fairly, so that future wars could be avoided. Wilson wanted a 'fair and lasting peace', and he wanted the armed forces of all nations reduced, not just the losers, and a League of Nations created to ensure peace. His plan affected the Treaty of Versailles as some of the terms in that treaty came from Wilson’s Fourteen Points, including German troops leaving Russia and free trade between all countries.
Lincoln points out that he, as well as the rest of the country, did not want to go to war but realized that it was the only way out of the problems arising. He also goes on to say that both sides had the power to stop the war and that was brewing. He makes clear the fact that, if desired, all violence could have been avoided. Lincoln does a great deal of comparisons between the north and the south in his speech. He brings out the flaws in both sides, and ultimately puts the blame on the feuding between the two sides.
The Bolsheviks wanted originally, world wide revolution but the countries in the West were cautious of Communism and therefore the Bolsheviks felt that survival of the regime was more important, they hoped that the West would collapse. Lenin knew that Russia and Communism was being targeted by the West therefore he appointed Chicherin as Commissar for Foreign Affairs in 1918 in order to build better relations with other countries. They stated a commitment to open diplomacy so that no secret treaties were signed like they were in the old Tsarist regime. Russia withdrew from the First World War with the signing of the Treaty of Breast-Litovsk with Germany which although took the pressure of the war away from Lenin, Russia lost a large deal of land in Finland, the Baltic States and Bessarabia. These were not regained when the treaty was annulled in 1919 after Germany’s eventual defeat.
The British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, realised the severe implications that this could have and so wanted a more lenient peace treaty. The American public had little interest in Post War Europe but their President, Woodrow Wilson, wanted a Germany that would make a good neighbour in Europe, hence his fourteen points. To reach a compromise a meeting was needed at the small palace of Versailles, not far from the French capital, Paris. Here the leaders of ‘The Big Three’ (Clemenceau, Wilson and George), tried to find a lasting peace of Europe. This meeting was intended to bring stability and peace into a crippled Europe.